For the next few days, the two didn't seriously look for the cat, but they still used the mission as a pretext to frequently visit the Daimyo's residence.
Unfortunately, after several days, they didn't even catch a glimpse of the Daimyo.
Ino wanted Hinata to use her Byakugan to look, but the Daimyo's residence had a sealing barrier to prevent prying, so after looking for a long time, all she saw was a blank space, nothing at all.
Unable to do anything, the two could only wait for an opportunity.
The capital was not peaceful; a conspicuous Byakugan appearing here could easily make them prey in the enemy's eyes.
Before they left, both Jiraiya and Hyuga Hiashi had instructed her to protect Hinata well.
Ino gave Hinata a pair of goggles, somewhat similar to Naruto's style when he was at the Ninja Academy, but with darker lenses to effectively conceal the Byakugan.
It was evident that Hinata's attention towards Naruto was decreasing; this attention, from beginning to end, was not love but a form of admiration.
It's strange, but these Konoha Ninja in the original timeline almost couldn't find love in the traditional sense.
Naruto and Hinata, Sasuke and Sakura, Sai and Ino, Shikamaru and Temari—was that love? It was completely undetectable! It was basically two people reaching a certain age, pressured by elders, and having no choice but to live together.
The love lives of young Ninja were generally not well-regarded, while those 'gay' members of the Akatsuki Organization were quite popular, which was truly odd.
Hinata's feelings for Naruto were primarily admiration; she felt that Naruto had achieved things she hadn't.
In reality, this admiration was just a symbol, a very vague symbol that could be you, or it could be her.
Naruto had made great progress, but compared to Ino, the gap was still extremely obvious.
Hinata rarely interacted with Naruto, and the Hyuga Clan also opposed her contact with him. On the other hand, she was often with Ino, eating, chatting, and sparring, and her family didn't object. Plus, since many people knew Naruto liked Sakura, Hinata's object of admiration naturally shifted to Ino.
It was still admiration now, not anything else.
According to the current trend, it was almost impossible for Hinata to call Iruka "Father."
Ino wanted to rest indoors, but Hinata wanted to visit the market and even suggested that since they were rarely in the capital, they should buy gifts for Inoichi and Rino. Ino was puzzled, "Why are you buying them gifts?"
Although she didn't quite understand, she couldn't let the naive Hinata go to the market alone, so she had to follow.
The two changed into casual clothes and strolled through the capital's market.
Hinata's Ninjutsu wasn't great; she hadn't even developed the Water Release Chakra nature transformation Ino taught her, but she had a talent for shopping.
She bought a scarf for Inoichi, a pair of shoes for Rino, Shogi for Shikamaru, and an oversized backpack for Choji.
Ino had a face full of question marks. "Are you close to them? Buying things for those two?"
As Hinata paid, Ino saw the bank account number and found it familiar.
"This might, could, or perhaps is my bank account number? How did my passbook end up in your hands?"
"Yes." Hinata's small face lifted, particularly self-righteous: "Yes, Auntie said you spend all your mission rewards recklessly, with no concept of saving, and also—"
Her expression serious, she pointed at Ino, from head to toe.
What did that mean?
Hinata acted as if she had received some imperial decree: "Auntie said you have too few changes of clothes, even though you're a big beauty, you only have these two outfits. So, she told me to bring you out to buy clothes."
Is that so?
Ino scratched her head; she had never bought clothes for herself. What she wore now were basically Ino's old clothes.
Many of her clothes became short-sleeved crop tops and grew shorter and shorter, partly due to the Yang Seal, and partly because the clothes got smaller while she got bigger—it was a relative process.
"Alright then."
"No 'alright then,' you have to buy clothes today!"
"Okay, okay."
Hinata resolutely pulled her to buy clothes.
"Ino's figure is really good," Hinata said with emotion while trying on clothes.
Ino found it amusing: "Your figure is top-notch. Among Kunoichi, I think only Tsunade-sensei can compare to you. Tsk, tsk, is mine good? At most, I'm a little better than Sakura and Tenten, and about the same as Temari."
The conversation became increasingly lewd, and Hinata's small face flushed slightly, her fingers constantly twirling.
"Actually... actually, you don't understand my troubles. Some parts are... some parts are a burden. Yours is just right."
Ino spoke nonsense with a straight face: "From an action perspective, it is indeed inconvenient, but yours is a natural gift, a blessing from heaven. Many people envy it. I'm telling you, Sakura is especially envious."
As she turned to look in the mirror, she swiftly reached out both hands to Hinata, felt them, and chuckled, "Ah, this immense weight, truly the unbearable burden of life."
Hinata slapped her hands away, and after more than a minute, she quietly asked: "You know many Ninjutsu, do you have... do you have, a Ninjutsu that can make that, that, make that a little smaller?"
Ino was dumbfounded.
"...This, this is truly unheard of."
She thought seriously for a moment. Chakra is omnipotent! If even the dead can be revived, is this small problem really a problem? Of course not.
But no one had ever developed Ninjutsu in that direction. Among ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or a million people, you wouldn't find one who needed that Ninjutsu. Who would develop such a Ninjutsu for no good reason?
Hinata's issue definitely couldn't be discussed with male Ninja, or her parents, or her sister. Among Kunoichi, Ino was currently the only one she was close to and who had extremely high Ninjutsu proficiency.
Ino thought seriously for a moment, then deliberately teased her: "Actually, I can use a partial Water Release to dissolve it for you, but the control is difficult. What if one ends up big and the other small? That definitely wouldn't work, right?"
Hinata, annoyed, lightly kicked her shin.
Ino then thought seriously: "I'll look through medical books later and research it. It shouldn't be difficult. It's nothing more than the harmonization of Yin and Yang Chakra. Massage plus medicine, I suppose. Then I'll guide it through the Chakra pathways, allowing this growth to return to your body, increasing Chakra and Dojutsu Power, and simultaneously promoting bone growth."
Hinata nodded like a pecking chick; her short stature was also a great regret of hers.
She was currently just 1.52 meters tall, which wasn't considered too short among Kunoichi her age, but she often hung out with Ino.
Ino was already close to 1.70 meters, with crop tops and long legs, looking young, beautiful, and full of spirit.
Because of her body, Hinata walked with a slight hunch, and combined with her short stature and extremely conservative dress, when the two walked together, she appeared particularly childish.
She wanted to grow taller too!
Sorry, sorry, I got swamped with things as soon as I got to work, so this was posted late today.
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